WELCOME

This site aims to facilitate research on Greek composers of art music with an origin in, or relation to, the late Ottoman Empire, by publishing information as well as data about resources and databases which throw light on their lives and works in Europe. Composers of Greek descent played a vital and creative role in shaping Continental art music during the long nineteenth century both in Greece and abroad, and the details given about them in the composer sections of this blog aim to highlight their artistic achievements and legacy.

Unfortunately, we still only know relatively little about these musicians, mainly due to a lack of available or accessible sources. This website attempts to remedy this situation by encouraging institutions and individuals to provide information on relevant research materials in their archives, special collections and private libraries. Musicians’ archives are a primary source of information for historical and musicological research. For many years, music librarians and researchers have been aware of the difficulties of finding out what collections exist, where they are held and what their contents are. Archival materials relating to Greek composers can be found in libraries, public archives, repositories of music societies and concert venues, and in numerous private collections. These locations and their holdings represent a potentially vast untapped source for musicians’ letters, diaries, personal notes, sheet music, manuscripts, audio materials and concert programmes, and they will often include unique material not available elsewhere. At the same time, these documents are a unique source for studying the musical life and personalities of bygone periods.

The aim of this blog is to document significant holdings of archival material pertaining to leading Greek composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which are kept in Greece, as well as in Francophone, English- and German-speaking regions on both private and institutional level in order to improve access to these resources and use for historical and musicological research. In the initial phase, main focus will be given to identifying materials which throw light on the lives and works of three composers of Greek descent: Camille (Marie) Stamaty (1811-1870), Dimitrios Lalas (1844-1911) and Emilios Riadis (1880-1935). Their biographies are discussed in the respective composer sections.

Institutions and individuals who are interested in supporting research on these three composers in the near and distant future are kindly asked to provide data about existing materials which form part of their collections in the questionnaire and feedback sections of the website, and to forward information about the study to other parties who may possess further materials that may be relevant.

Those who would like to obtain further information on the study are invited to e-mail the principal investigator of the project and this site’s author, Dr Sabine Koch (E-Mail: musicians.archives.gr@gmail.com; http://ionio.academia.edu/SabineKoch).